1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus for automatic telephone answering devices with which a calling party is greeted by a recorded outgoing message, and any incoming message which the calling party desires to leave is recorded on a magnetic medium. In particular, this invention is directed to a telephone answering device in which a single magnetic tape and a single driving mechanism therefor are provided, and in which the outgoing message and the incoming messages are recorded in the same track on the magnetic tape.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In many previously proposed telephone answering devices, two separate tapes are required: one for the recorded outgoing message and one for recording the incoming messages. A typical such device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,445,600, to Leonard M. Todd. In this previously-proposed device, ringing current causes the device to seize the phone line, and also starts play of an endless tape on which a prerecorded outgoing message is recorded. After the endless tape has completed its cycle, a message recorder is started. This message recorder then records any incoming message on a separate tape. Because such a telephone answering device requires separate driving mechanisms for the two magnetic tapes, and also requires separate transducers and other ancillary equipment, this type of device is rather complicated, and therefore quite expensive. It is also quite difficult to construct such a device in a compact form.
One attempt to improve upon the above-mentioned device has been disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,943,292, to M. Takazawa. This proposed device utilizes a single magnetic tape for both the outgoing message and the incoming messages, but requires a pair of magnetic heads that are spaced a sufficient distance apart so that when an incoming call is received, the first magnetic head picks up the recorded message on the tape and transmits it to the calling party, while simutaneously, the recorded message picked up by the first head is transmitted to the second magnetic head. Thus, the recorded outgoing message is recorded repeatedly on the tape. The calling party's incoming message is then recorded in the space between the successive recordings of the outgoing message.
While this proposed device does indeed provide economy in that only a single tape and a single associated tape drive are required, because the device records the same outgoing message repeatedly, a great deal (about half) of the available length of the magnetic tape is wasted.